MAKING HISTORY: Dublin advances for second straight year

Dublin raises trophy FEATUE — Dublin has won playoff games in consecutive years for the first time in school history. || Photo by CHET MARTIN

By BRAD KEITH

TheFlashToday.com NEWS & SPORTS – FREE & LOCAL

(November 13, 2015) — For Chuy Chacon, it was the biggest play of his high school career.

For Greg Hardcastle, it was his biggest call as an offensive coordinator.

And for Bob Cervetto, it was a smile for the ages.

When Chuy Chacon took a screen pass and raced away for a game winning 76 yard touchdown, he took with him 50 years of mediocrity – often below that – and carried Dublin football to another level. For the first time in school history, Dublin has won playoff games in back-to-back seasons.

The touchdown came with less than three minutes remaining, and gave Dublin its only lead of the night.

Turns out it was the only lead the Lions would need.

An assortment of penalties and clock mismanagement kept Blooming Grove from getting off a last ditch shot at the end zone, and Dublin held on for a 18-15 win in a Region III-3A Division II bi-district playoff at Burleson Stadium.

This playoff win, an upset by fourth place Dublin (5-6) over 9-3A Division II district champ Blooming Grove (7-4), was much more dramatic than the 54-6 drubbing of Corsicana Mildred last season.

Dublin trailed 15-3, with only a 34-yard field goal by Christian Hernandez on the board, by the midway point of the second quarter. But the Dublin defense pitched a shut out the rest of the way, and an 8-yard touchdown pass, the first of two by junior Brady Moore, to Keith Wright, who until last week was playing for the junior varsity, cut the deficit to 15-10 in the third.

That set up a fairy tale ending for Dublin, and a Friday the 13th nightmare for Blooming Grove.

Chacon’s TD left 2:38 on the clock, and Blooming Grove worked the ball inside the 20 before committing a penalty. Ultimately, the clock wound with seven seconds left and Blooming Grove was unable to call its final timeout or get the ball spiked before time expired.

Dublin is returning to the site of its area round loss in 2014. The Lions face Corrigan-Camden at 7:30 p.m. next Friday, November 20, in Buffalo. Corrigan-Camden, the third place finisher in 11-3A Division II, defeated Trinity Friday, 64-28.

Photos by CHET MARTIN